CHAPTER 11 – RESTORATION OF LAPSED PATENTS

CHAPTER 11 – RESTORATION OF LAPSED PATENTS

60.Applications for restorations of lapsed patents.—

(1) Where a patent has ceased to have effect by reason of failure to pay any renewal fee within the period prescribed under section 53 or within such period as may be allowed under sub-section (4) of section 142, the patentee or his legal representative, and the patent was held by two or more persons jointly, then, with the leave of the Controller, one or more of them without joining the others, may, within eighteen months from the date on which the patent ceased to have effect, make an application for the restoration of the patent.

(2)[Omitted by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2002]

(3)An application under this section shall contain a statement, verified in the prescribed manner, fully setting out the circumstances which led to the failure to pay the prescribed fee, and the Controller may require from the applicant such further evidence as he may think necessary.

61.Procedure for disposal of applications for restoration of lapsed patents.—

(1) If, after hearing the applicant in cases where the Applicant so desires or the Controller thinks fit, the Controller is prima facie satisfied that the failure to pay the renewal fee was unintentional and that there has been no undue delay in the making of the application, he shall publish the application in the prescribed manner; and within the prescribed period any person interested may give notice to the Controller of opposition thereto on either or both of the following grounds, that is to say,—

(a)that the failure to pay the renewal fee was not unintentional; or

(b)that there has been undue delay in the making of the application.

(2)If notice of opposition is given within the period aforesaid, the Controller shall notify the applicant, and shall give to him and to the opponent an opportunity to be heard before he decides the case.

(3)If no notice of opposition is given within the period aforesaid or if in the case of opposition, the decision of the Controller is in favour of the applicant, the Controller shall, upon payment of any unpaid renewal fee and such additional fee as may be prescribed, restore the patent and any patent of addition specified in the application which has ceased to have effect on the cesser of that patent.

(4)The Controller may, if he thinks fit as a condition of restoring the patent, require that an entry shall be made in the register of any document or matter which, under the provisions of this Act, has to be entered in the register but which has not been so entered.

62.Rights of patentees of lapsed patents which have been restored.—

(1) Where a patent is restored, the rights of the patentee shall be subject to such provisions as may be prescribed and to such other provisions as the Controller thinks fit to impose for the protection or compensation of persons who may have begun to avail themselves of, or have taken definite steps by contract or otherwise to avail themselves of, the patented invention between the date when the patent ceased to have effect and the date of publication of the application for restoration of the patent under this Chapter.

(2)No suit or other proceeding shall be commenced or prosecuted in respect of an infringement of a patent committed between the date on which the patent ceased to have effect and the date of the publication of the application for restoration of the patent.